Happy New Year! 2018 promises to be full of excitement and opportunities for Discovery School families.

The
Board is continuing its commitment to share our plans with you. Just
before winter break, results from the Board’s September 2017 Retreat
were presented in three Town Hall Meetings. We appreciate your comments
and feedback from those and meetings and want to emphasize that as your
Board, we are:

Promising regular and open communication.

Committed
to a middle school on the horizon, but we also recognize the need to
focus on current school needs first for our children, faculty and staff.

Fully aware of our need for additional space.

Partnering
with a local area fundraising expert to help construct a Development
Plan that is realistic in both timeline and targets.

Based
on these points, the Facilities Committee participated in a Master
Planning Process that was completed in December, and plans are underway
to present it to Discovery constituents in the near future. It is
important to note that execution of the Master Plan and the timeline are
dependent upon our success in fundraising.

During
the Town Hall Meetings, we also shared with parents that starting in
the 2018-19 school year, The Discovery School will be moving to a 2-year
plane of development for the elementary students. This preserves the
benefits that the multiage classroom provides, such as having the same
teacher for more than one year, and older students having opportunities
to serve as role models and leaders; while at the same time narrowing
the developmental gap and providing students with an experience that is
targeted to more specific academic and social learning outcomes.

As
you can see we have good progress to report, and our decisions are
always made with our students in mind. If you were unable to attend the
Town Halls, we invite you to take a look at the presentation (attached).
It will also live on The Discovery School website for future
reference.

Thank you for your continued support
and commitment to The Discovery School. We look forward to working
together in the new year, and always welcome your ideas.